How to find comp titles for your manuscript!
Finding comp titles is hard. But you are a strong, brave writer (who deserves a treat, btw) and you got this!!
For querying writers, the need for “comps” – novels that your manuscript can be compared to – can be difficult and sometimes frustrating. In a query, they often look something like “the oppressive atmosphere of George Orwell’s 1984 combined with the feel-good romance of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series!” Wouldn’t that be something? (Also: probably don’t comp to 1984 OR Bridgerton, but more on that later.)
When I first started querying in 2022, I didn’t totally understand what purpose comps served. So let’s start there first.
Why does my book need comps?
Comps help agents – and later, editors!! – understand where your book fits in the market, and what sort of appetite already exists for it. Sometimes agents will say ‘where it fits on the shelf’, but I don’t think it’s meant to be taken literally. It means more like, What would Amazon or Goodreads recommend in the ‘readers also bought/reviewed…’ section? Or, if there was a curated shelf at the library, like ‘Our Favorite Spine-Tingling Dark Horror Reads!’ or something, what would that shelf be called? What other books would be there on the shelf beside your book?
It’s important to remember that the choice to represent a book and purchase it is a business decision. You might have the most brilliant book, but if an editor can’t figure out who would be buying that book, it’s not a sound business decision. And with the amount of people that an editor needs to get on board to acquire a book – from other editors to an entire marketing team – they’re unlikely to be able to take a chance on a book just because they really love it. (Maybe it happens, don’t come at me, I will cry)
Here’s something I wish someone had said to me in 2022: It’s really important not to go into publishing with the belief that you can break the rules and be the exception. This mindset sets you up for disappointment. Do yourself the favor of assuming your book will be treated like all the other hundreds of excellent books out there being queried and put on submission. Give yourself your best shot at success.
So – back to comps. Personally, I think it’s okay if one of your comps is a super-popular media piece (like a TV show or a movie) if it’s very topical and relevant. This shows that there’s a viewership for this type of media and can be more recognizable. For example, if you have an epic historical drama set in Japan, you might use the hugely successful, Emmy-award-winning SHOGUN as a comp. People love SHOGUN, and if your book has a similar setting and atmosphere, they might love your book too!
So, tl:dr – you need comps to show that your book is marketable and that it has an accessible audience.
(Quick note: If your book is marketable, it doesn’t mean it’s less important, or not high-brow, or made for the masses, or whatever. It means you know how to talk about your amazing, excellent book in a way that makes people want to read it. Anything can be marketable; learning how to communicate its marketability is a skill.)
What sort of comps do I need?
You need recent and popular comps within your genre and (typically) age group. ‘Recent’ means the book was published within the last five years, but I’ve also heard two years. The book should be ‘popular’ in the way that it sold well or was well-reviewed (check Goodreads or Amazon!) but not ‘popular’ in the way of household names like Sarah J. Maas or George RR Martin.
But that’s impossible, I hear you say. That’s too many things. It’s difficult, yes! But not impossible. Without further ado:
Top tips for finding usable comps when querying
1. Read recent fiction in your genre.
This will put you in tune with what’s being published and popularized at the moment, and will also help you get to know who the authors are who are publishing in your genre! Then when it comes time that you’re published and need to get back cover blurbs, you might have some ideas of who you admire and would like to approach.
2. Crowdsource it!
No one can read everything. Put together a pitch for your book; describe the main themes, the setting, the atmosphere. Then ask your community if they’ve read anything that you could consider as a comp. More heads are better than one! Definitely try to read those books, or at least do a deep-dive on reviews or pick the brain of the person who’s read it, before committing to it. Find out what elements of the book might be useful as comps.
3. Remember that a comp doesn’t have to be a 1:1
This is really important, and I think where a lot of querying authors fall down. No one is asking you to find a book that’s exactly like yours in plot, tone and character. The goal here is to find elements of other books that are similar to yours, to give agents and editors a feel for what to expect in your book – and who’s reading those elements.
Let’s put it into practice
I write YA & adult fantasy romance, so let’s talk about my on-submission book, MOURNSOUL, as an example. The pitch I would give my writing group would be something like…
MOURNSOUL is a second-world fantasy where gods once walked the earth, and had god-children, and went to war with each other. The gods are gone, but the god-children of opposing gods are reincarnated, lifetime after lifetime, to carry on the gods’ holy war. In this lifetime, the god-children are forced to ally, start to fall for each other, and question everything they’ve been brought up to believe about their gods, their shared history, and each other. Main themes include generational trauma and faith deconstruction. Lots of pining and betrayal.
This is not necessarily a good pitch, and not one I would send to agents or editors, but it would give my writing group a sense of what to think about as they help me brainstorm comps. Gods, reincarnation, pining, exploration of religion, etc.
We probably won’t find a book that covers all those aspects, and that’s fine! I queried this book for over a year, and have been on submission for nearly six months, and I’ve used a lot of comps – explained below. (Note that this book has had a YA and an adult version after revisions, so comps span both. In fantasy in particular, there’s a lot of crossover between upper YA, New Adult and adult – so if you’re writing upper YA but the book you want to comp is adult, it’s probably fine.)
Seven Faceless Gods and The Foxglove King – for the corrupt gods and religious world-building
The Jasad Heir and Legendborn – for magic sown by the ghosts of generations past
This Vicious Grace – for the god-chosen/priestess main character struggling with her role and the religious institution that failed her
The Hurricane Wars – for star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of a war
These Infinite Fates – for a love affair across lifetimes
All of these comps speak to parts of my book, without trying to represent the whole.
What if I can’t find any comps similar to my book?
Look, I hear you. It’s hard to find things that are similiar to your beautiful perfect book-baby. But I’m going to give you some tough love, friend, because I had this issue myself. The issue often lies in one, or several, of these things.
You’re not totally sure what genre you’re writing in. You could be looking in the wrong spot for comps! If you’re convinced you’re writing fantasy but it takes place on a spaceship, you might want to check out the sci-fi shelf.
You haven’t read what’s come out recently. Read recent books! They’re good, promise! Don’t listen to the haters that say any book featured on TikTok must be bad. Good, worthwhile books are being published in droves. Read them!
You’re being too precious about your comps. Once again, because this is important, I will say: your comp doesn’t need to reflect every beautiful nuance of your book. It just needs to show that you understand what’s happening in the market, and what’s hooky and marketable about your book. (And again: every book is marketable, it’s not an insult!)
Tl;dr version
Why do you need comps? To prove to agents and editors that books similar to yours in concept, theme or style get purchased and read!
How do comps work? They should be comparable to an element or elements of your story, be that setting, style, theme, characters, etc, and be from within the last 5 years.
How should you find comps? Scroll up, read my top tips, and try again!
Best of luck out there!! <3